


comeback kid

by jaegerjagues



Category: Naruto
Genre: Hyuuga Neji Lives, M/M, Neji lives au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 13:07:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22496596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaegerjagues/pseuds/jaegerjagues
Summary: Neji lives.He's just not too sure why.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Inuzuka Kiba, Peripheral naruhina
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57





	comeback kid

Neji slipped away from his clone and into the alley proper, heading away from where his cousin sat on what he tentatively could call a date with none other than Uzumaki Naruto, village idiot and more recently, Savior of Them All.

Or, Savior of Them All, Except Those Who Died.

He had nearly been one of the latter.

It’s something he tried not to think about. Like his future, or what he might have left behind if he had died, or if there was a reason he was still alive, or if his life should have been spared in the first place. Did he have a purpose, anymore, or was he just meant to wander? Will he, once healed, want to continue serving the Hidden Leaf as a ninja, or would he find some other path to set himself on?

Tenten has goals, has had goals since they were young, squirreling away seed-money to start her own weapons’ shop. There’s a storefront on the main thoroughfare through town, empty now after the war, that her sights are set on. Lee has his own dreams, aspirations set on surpassing their sensei.

Neji has none of those; has never allowed himself to fancy anything like that. Always, he was a bird caged, born to the same fate as his father before him. But he is free now, or something like it, the long ribbon of his life twisting out in front of him, endless and infinite and barren. He has no plans for his future, so terrified at the endless possibilities that he can’t fathom where to begin. Will not even now, so soon after nearly dying. There had been Four Shinobi Wars; what was there to stop a Fifth?

Quietly, Neji stepped into a separate alley a block and a half away, coming up behind his target. Someone else had been watching his cousin as she was out; he had a duty to uphold, foremost as his younger cousin’s chaperone.

He put his mouth close to the younger man’s ear and said, “Hoping to pick up the pieces when this inevitably goes wrong?”

The Inuzuka Clan’s sense of smell is legendary, but without their companions around it’s almost impossible for a single one of them to smell anything coming from downwind. His cousin had told him of this weakness, and Neji was pleased to see it work himself.

Inuzuka Kiba startled with his whole body, reflexes whip sharp from years of honing his skills. He whirled on his foot, kuna in hand. Neji caught the younger shinobi’s wrist easily, bending lightly with the force of it. He hissed quietly at the way the still-healing scars on his chest twinged, tender new skin tugging at the old skin that surrounds it.

Inuzuka breathed in deep through his nose. “Neji?”

Neji relaxes his grip; Inuzuka withdraws his hand, tucking his kunai back in its pouch. “You’ve failed to answer my question,” he said in answer, taking a step back. Cold air settles in the space between them.

The younger Leaf Nin fidgeted for a moment, shoved his hands into his pockets before he said, “Hinata isn’t the one I’m here for.”

Ah. Uzumaki, then. Neji can’t fault him.

Uzumaki will be Hokage someday; he fought a God and won, fought his best friend to the death and lived, overcame a village that hated him and nearly gave his life for it.

If he doesn’t become Hokage, Neji will eat his forehead protector.

He said, “There’s a better vantage point a block down, if you care to join me.”

In the dim light of the alley, Inuzuka grinned, wolf-like. “I’d love to.”

* * *

The alley is quiet as they watch the date unfold before them. Uzumaki scarfing down bowl after bowl of ramen, Hinata laughing quietly at some of the things he manages to say around mouthfuls of food.

Neji waits silently, Hinata’s team-mate at his side in the dark, a warm presence against the cold concrete pressing in on all sides. Waiting with Inuzuka makes the night seem less suffocating, and it prevents Neji from wandering too far deep within the hollow of introspection he’d found himself wallowing in lately.

The date is over not long after, Hinata and Uzumaki bidding farewell to the shop owner before departing, hand in hand. Neji and his companion slipped into the crowd easily, a distance behind their targets, just far enough behind them to make it look like some coincidence that they’re in the same vicinity, though Hinata knows better.

Inuzuka stays by his side the whole while, a welcome presence among the stream of people passing them by. Neji can’t say that he didn’t appreciate the company, waiting in the dark as his cousin took steps to move forward with her life after the war. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to do the same.

When they reach the Hyuuga compound, Neji cranes himself around the corner of the wall, on the lookout for Hinata’s preserved chastity as Uzumaki and Hinata separate at the entrance, whispered words too quiet to hear as Neji and Inuzuka wait out of sight.

He stretches a bit too far, though, sending a twinge of pain through his still healing chest as Hinata closes the gates behind her. The pain unsettles the delicate position he has his body contorted in, and the ground rushes up to meet him.

Inuzuka lightly catches his wrist just before he hits the ground, holding Neji steady as he regains his balance. He does so carefully, trying not to move too abruptly and disrupt the nerves in his chest any more than necessary.

Inuzuka’s hands are rough, worn and calloused with a lifetime of war written on them, so much like his own hands.

Neji closed his eyes for a moment before he turned to Inuzuka and, rather than thanking him, said, “Better luck next time, I suppose.”

The other nin huffs, removing his hand. Cool air rushes over Neji’s wrist; he’s startled to find that he missed the warmth. “There’s going to be a next time?”

“This date didn’t end in flames, which means there will likely be another. But I’m certain Uzumaki will misstep somewhere, and then you can make your move.”

“Wasn’t here for Uzumaki, either,” Inuzuka says, over confident, departing as the words left his mouth.

The realization draped itself around him softly, settling into the new skin that covers his scars.

_Oh_.

Perhaps he has something to look forward to, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> join me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/munchlaxe) and cry


End file.
